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Thursday, February 27, 2014

What makes a city a capital city? The city or town
that functions as the seat of government and administrative centre of a country
or region is the capital city.

Israel refers to Jerusalem as the country's capital,
and seats its government (Knesset) in that city. But the international
community does not recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital, and the city hosts
no foreign embassies. Most countries, as well as the United Nations,
recognize nearby Tel Aviv.

The Palestinian National Authority also
claims Jerusalem as the capital for their future Palestinian state; but
currently the de facto seat of the internationally-recognized
Palestinian government is in Ramallah, while the seat of the Hamas-led
government is in Gaza City.

Stamps

(left) In 2011 Israel issued a set of 6 stamps about
butterflies of Israel. This one pictures the Common Blue.

(right) Dating back to ancient times Jews have used an
Etrog box during Sukkot, the Festival of Booths, to store the Etrog fruit,
an oval shaped citron fruit.

Wednesday, February 26, 2014

The Hamar (or Hamer) are a tribe
inhabiting southwestern Ethiopia. They are cattle herders and practice
agriculture. They will stay for a few months wherever there is enough
grass for grazing, putting up their round huts. When the grass is finished,
they will move on.

The Hamar practice various rituals like the bull
jumping as a rite of passage for the man, whose female relatives demand to be
whipped as part of the ceremony. This is extremely painful and causes severe
scaring on the women.

Stamps

Definitive stamps Menelik Bushbuck (2002). In Ethiopia
two types of Bushbuck can be found: Meneliki and Powelli. Both are fairly
widespread and can be seen in much of Ethiopia's highland forest.

Monday, February 24, 2014

Tyre is is an ancient Phoenician city located
on the southern coast of Lebanon, 83 km south of Beirut. It was an island in ages past, celebrated for
its beauty. Tyre emerges today from the debris of centuries. Excavations on the
site have uncovered remains of the Crusader, Arab, Byzantine and Graeco-Roman
cities.

Stamps

(left) Horsh Ehden is a Nature Reserve located
in North Lebanon, it contains a particularly diverse and beautiful remnant
forest of the Cedar of Lebanon.

Sunday, February 23, 2014

The Skopje 2014 project aimed at rebuilding a city that
lost many of its landmarks in a 1963 earthquake. The goal is to give the city a
more monumental appearance.

The project envisages the construction of almost 20
buildings, including, museums, theatres, concert halls, hotels and
administrative offices. Many more bronze and marble statues are also being
erected to adorn the surroundings.

Porta Macedonia is a triumphal arch located
on Pella Square, building was completed in January 2012. The arch is
dedicated to 20 years of Macedonian independence.

Friday, February 21, 2014

Swaziland
is located in in Southern Africa and is bordered for the most part by
South Africa and to the northeast by Mozambique. Swaziland is one of the smallest countries in Africa. It is
no more than 200 kilometres by 130 kilometres.

The king
of Swaziland, Mswati III, currently has 27 children from his first 13 wives and
wives-to-be.

Thursday, February 20, 2014

The Willems Toren Lighthouse is located at the
Southern tip of the island of Bonaire. Together with St. Eustatius and Saba
the islands are known as Caribbean Netherlands. The lighthouse was established
in 1837 and recently completely renovated.

Stamps

Issued in 2012 as part of a set of four stamps about
Sailing Ships. The Optimist is a small,
single-handed sailing dinghy intended for use by children up to the
age of 15.

Wednesday, February 19, 2014

The seashore formation known as Black Rocks is located
on the north side of the island of St Kitts. A remnant of the once active
volcano Mt. Liamuiga. This stratovolcano forms the western part of the
island. These rocks being formed of the hot lava as it entered the cool
Caribbean.

Stamps

On the left one more stamp issued by the Department of
Tiny Stamps picturing a pineapple. On
the right a Zebra butterfly.

Sunday, February 16, 2014

Butrint was anancient Greek and later Roman city
located in southern Albania, close to the Greek border.

Inhabited since prehistoric times, Butrint has been
the site of a Greek colony, a Roman city and a bishopric. Following a period of
prosperity under Byzantine administration, then a brief occupation by the
Venetians, the city was abandoned in the late Middle Ages after marshes formed
in the area. The present archaeological site is a repository of ruins
representing each period in the city’s development.

The castle is located on Okinawa Island which is the
largest of the Okinawa Islands and the Ryukyu Islands. The
Kingdom of the Ryukyus reigned over Japan's southwestern islands for
approximately 450 years from 1429 to 1879.

Shuri Castle was both the royal residence for the king
and his family and the administrative center of the Shuri Royal Government. It
also served as a religious center to administer the rituals performed by the
cultural and artistic activities, with many musicians, dancers, artisans and
craftsmen active in the castle area.

In the spring of 1879, the king was exiled from Shuri
Castle, and Okinawa Prefecture was established. Shuri Castle then became the
military headquarters of the Japanese troops and served as school buildings.

Saturday, February 15, 2014

Seoul is the capital and largest metropolis of South
Korea, a megacity with over 10 million inhabitants.

Changdeokgung is one of the "Five Grand Palaces"
built by the kings of the Joseon Dynasty (1392–1897). Gyeonghoeru
(Pavilion of Joyous Meeting) is the oldest and most famous of Gyeongbokgung's
pavilions.

It was used as a royal banquet hall during the Joseon dynasty. This
two story pavilion was built in 1412, burned down by the Japanese in 1592, and
reconstructed in 1867.

Thursday, February 13, 2014

Puna Catamarqueña is a desert high plateau at more
than 3,000 meters height, located in Catamarca, a province in the Argentine
Northwest, about 1.500 km away from the city of Buenos Aires. Its climate is
arid and extreme, with less than 200 mm of annual rainfall.

The Vicuña is a wild South American camelid which
live in the high alpine areas of the Andes. Vicuñas live exclusively
in South America, primarily in the central Andes. They are native to Peru,
northwestern Argentina, Bolivia, and northern Chili.

Wednesday, February 12, 2014

Guyana is located in South America. It borders
Venezuela, Brazil, Suriname and the Atlantic Ocean. Guyana is known for its
rich bio-diversity, particularly bird species. The inaccessibility of Guyana’s
tropical rainforest is fundamental to the survival of some of the world’s most
endangered species such as the Harpy Eagle, Cock of the Rock, Arapaima, Giant
Otter, Giant Anteater, Jaguar and Black Caiman.

In Guyana, with more than 250 species of mammals and
1,000 species of birds, spreading across 275 waterfalls, four mountain ranges,
eighteen lakes and numerous waterways, any wildlife adventure is possible.

Stamp

Least Grebes are found in a wide variety of wetland habitats, including
freshwater ponds, lakes, roadside ditches, and mangrove swamps.

Monday, February 10, 2014

Colonia Tovar (Tovar Colony in English) is a town in Venezuela,
founded in 1843 by a group of almost 400 immigrants from Germany.

For nearly a hundred years they lived up there,
without even a road connecting them to the rest of the country. Speaking
German, preserving their own culture, and marriage outside of the community was
prohibited. Today this town is a major tourist attraction. Many of the houses
are built in Bavarian style.

Sunday, February 9, 2014

A volcano caldera is a depression in the ground
created by the collapse of land after a volcanic eruption. In some cases, the
caldera is created slowly, when the ground sinks down after a magma chamber is
emptied. In other situations, the magma explodes violently, and the caldera is
the deep pit in the ground that remains after the volcano blows its top off.

Stamps

(left) The stamp is from a set of 2 stamps issued in
2008 under the theme "82 years of radio communication".

Friday, February 7, 2014

The city of Antigua in Guatamala is known as the
best-preserved Spanish colonial city in Central America. It was founded in the
early 16th century, 1,500 m above sea-level, in an earthquake-prone region.

Volcán de Agua or the Water Volcano is a dormant volcano
since the mid-16th century. Its name traces back to 1541, when water and
mudslides from the volcano wiped out Guatemala's then-capital city.

Thx Pat!

Stamp

Part of a set of four stamps about legends and myths: La Llorona. This legend is about a woman named María who drowned herself and
her children.

Thursday, February 6, 2014

The Shuka is an African piece of clothing. It is the
main garment worn by the Masai, initially made out of animal skins but today cotton
is the main material.

It is a dress-like cloth, traditionally worn wrapped
around the body, and over each shoulder. It isn’t specially patterned to fit
like this, but is simply a very large square cloth. They are almost always red,
and usually have a plaid or striped pattern on them. The patterns are blue,
black and purple.

Stamp

Part of a set of stamps
issued 2011 about grasshoppers of Tanzania. According to the text on the stamp
this is mole cricket. But it just doesn’t look like it.

Wednesday, February 5, 2014

The word
'dhow' is used to describe all types of local boats along the coasts of the Arabian
Peninsula, Pakistan, India, Bangladesh and East Africa. Dhow is
the generic name of a number of traditional sailing vessels with one
or more masts with lateen (triangle shaped) sails.

“Nobody had made a wooden dhow in Bahrain for 20 years – until recently
to fulfil an order for the king. Ibrahim is one of
the last 3 craftsmen who still know the trade: No plans, all made by eye.
Indian teak planks fixed with wooden plugs and sealed below the waterline with
camel fat. Good for 100 years. Ibrahim can’t find young Bahrainis willing to learn
his craft, so he’s teaching apprentices from India and Bangladesh.”

Monday, February 3, 2014

Dominica is a lush green mountainous island located
midway down the chain of Caribbean Islands east and south of Puerto Rico. The
national dress of Dominica is the ‘Wob Dwiyet’.

The dress is believed to have originated from Southern
France and that style of dress became popular in the French West Indies
towards the end of the 18th century. Today, Dominicans and other
Caribbean islands take pride in wearing the dress on special occasions such the
independence celebrations.

The last Friday before Independence is Creole Day and
all Dominicans will wear at least some variation of the national dress.

Stamps

Both part of a set of 13 permanent stamps depicting species
of lizard found in Dominica: the Golden Skink (left) and Vincent's Least Gecko (right).

Sunday, February 2, 2014

Santo Domingo is the capital and largest city in the Dominican Republic. After Christopher Columbus's arrival on the island in 1492, Santo Domingo became the site of the first cathedral of the Americas:Catedral Santa María La Menor.

The cathedral was constructed between 1514 and 1542, one of the architectural wonders of the Colonial City. The city's Colonial Zone, including the cathedral, was declared as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO.

Saturday, February 1, 2014

Montevideo
is the capital city of Uruguay. It is also the largest city and the main port of Uruguay. The Hotel
Casino Carrasco is a historic hotel and casino. Construction started in 1912 and it
was completed in 1921.

Stamps

In
2013 Uruguay issued nine permanent stamps about the rights of rural workers.